Shoe conditioner



Oct; 1946.7 G. H. DE LONG ETAL 1 SHiOE CONDITIONER Filed Nov. 50, 1945 ATToRyEr Patented Oct. 29, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

snon CONDITIONER George H. De' Long andtBIa'irJDreiSbach;

. Allentown; Pa.

ApplicationNovember 30, 1945, Serial No. 631,905

6 Claims. 1

Low shoes, more particularly womens pumps and OXfOIdS, tend when beingworn to bulge, or gape along the upper edges of the sides between theheel and the vamp and in consequence ultimately take a permanent outwardbulge which renders them unsightlyaswell as uncomfortable and enhances"the tendency to slip at. the heel. Ordinary shoe. trees inserted in.the shoes when not in use are not effective tobring the sides :back totheir original condition, and it is therefore a. principal object of.our inventionto provide means for overcoming this bulging or gaping in aconvenient and effectiveway through the provision of. a novel devicewhich when applied to the shoe after wearing is. operativetowturn thebulged-out sides to their originalcondition and. maintain them thereinuntil any. temporary set is eliminated: andtheshoeagain substantiallyconforms. to its-shape whennew.

A further object of the-inventionis theprovision of means of the.character aforesaidlwhich are. of extremely simple construction. andcanbe:app1ied to fthes-hoe with a. minimum of time and. efiort and asreadily .removed therefrom;

which tend to narrow the normal; width of the .hended by theinventionare. hereinafter more particularly pointed out or will be;apparent. to those skilled in the art from: th'e following descriptionof certain. embodiments of the invention asillustrated in the.accompanying. drawing, in which: 7

Fig. 1. is a perspective. View of a preferred form of our shoeconditioner as it appears. when in open position preparatory toapplication to a shoe;

Fig. 2 isa perspective View of a conventional womans pump withour shoeconditioner. in operative positionthereomand Fig.3, generallycorresponding to Fig. 1, is a perspective view of a modified form of theinvention. I

Referring first to Figs. 1 and .2, it will be apparent the devicetherein shown is preferably made from a'single piece of suitableresilient sheet material such as metal orplastic composition or othermaterial of generally corresponding chars 2 acteristics by first cuttingor stamping itout to the proper outline from the flat sheet andthensuitably forming it up to 'its ultimate 'shape. When so formed up itcomprises a substantially rectangular sole I of suflicient-l'ength tospan the shoe sole proximate the front face of the heel, and wings 2,' 3rising from the opposite ends thereof; for convenience of d'escriptionthe device will herein be referred to as if positioned with the sole Isubstantially horizontal and'the edges a and b respectively constitutingits' front and rear boundaries. 7 H a Each wing fromits point ofjunction with the sole extends angul'arly outward fora short dis'-tance, thence angularly inward for approximately twice the length of theoutwardly directed portion, and thence vertically upward for a shortdistance substantially" normal to the plane of s'ole I. Each wing thuscomprises a lowerportion 4, an intermediate. portion 5 and a terminalportion 6, and in the form of the invention now being described theupper extremity of one wing, for example 2, is extended and thenturned'substantially parallel to the sole as at. I and bent over and under atits free edge to forma hook 8, while the free extremity of the otherwing; is turned outwardly to provide a narrow'flange 9 engageable insaid hook whereby" the two wings after being sufiiciently manuallypressed toward each other in opposition to their natural tendency tospring apart may be locked together by engaging the hook over the flangeas shown in Fig. 2 so as to secure the conditioner snugly aboutthe. bodyof the shoe with the sole l' resting against. the shoe. sole slightlyi'nadvance of the front face of the heel and the wings. especially intheir upper portions, exertingoppositely inwardly directedpressure'on-itssides.

The lower :part of each wing. proximate its juncture with sole l issubstantially the width of the latter but at about the point at whichthe wing commences to incline inwardly'its edges begin to diverge, the.front edge 0 being carried upwardly and rearwardly in a somewhat steepercurve than the rear edge d with theresult that the upperextremity of thefront edge of each wing lies a little behind the rear edge of the soleand the. upper extremity of .its rear edge lies a material distancebehind it whereby the upper parts of the'wings are rearwardly ofis'etwith respect to sole l and whenthe conditioner atively considerabledistance, again as shown in Fig. 2. In consequence the inward pressureexerted on the sides by the wings is distributed for a relativelyconsiderable distance from a point a little in front of the apex of theheel and thus in the area where the gaping tendency is most greatlyconcentrated whereby the eifectivenessof the device in restoring theshoe to its original contour is materially enhanced. Therefore, weregard the particular conformation of the wings in their upper portionsas an im'- portant feature of the invention since, as stated, the saidpressure is thereby exerted and distributed principally in the zone orarea which suffers the greatest deformation when the shoe is in use.

Moreover, to enhance the capacity of the device to properly position thesides of the shoe and insure their narrowing toward the heel, part Icarrying hook 8 is preferably tapered rearwardly to substantiallyconform in planary outline to a narrow symmetrical trapezoid, wherebywhen the device is in operative position the upj tractive appearancesubstantially throughout: their life, while continued use of theconditioner per parts of the wings are 'held in closer proximity attheir rear than at their forward edges and the upper parts of the shoesides proximate its heel are thus brought quite closely adjacentand'from this point then can slightly diverge forwardly between thewings in accordance with the original conformation of the shoe.

It is believed from the foregoing that the method of attachment-andoperation of the de- 'vice will-be readily understood without extendeddescription, but in brief it may be pointed out that whenever flange 9is disengaged from hook 8 the Wings spring apart through their naturalresiliency and the device thus assumes substantially the position ofFig. 1 in which it may be .readily slipped over the shoe until the solei is brought relatively close to its heel. The wings are then pressedoppositely inward against the sides of the shoe until the hook can bereengaged over the flange, thus locating the device in operativepositionas shown in Fig. 2 in which it preferably is allowed to remainuntil it be desired to again wear the shoe when it can be as readilydetached therefrom. For best results it is desirable the device he,placed on the shoe im- .mediately after the latter. has been in use forthe material of which itis made is then warm,

soft and pliable so it can be readily returned by .the operation of thedevice to its original shape in which it then gradually cools and dries.More- ,over, the device may be used in combination with .an ordinaryshoe. tree if desired provided, of

course, the tree is not of the kind to interfere with its application;the trees comprising separate toe and heel pieces connected by; a metalspring and customarily used in womens shoes are not of this characterand so are well adapted for the purpose.

, In Fig.3 is shown a slightly modified form of the invention in whichboth wings are provided at theirupper extremities with outturned flangesIll of generally similar character to flange Sal ready described andwhich are adaptedto cooperate with a rearwardly tapered sli-de H havinghob-ks l2 at its lateral edges and, like part 1, approximating inplanary outline a symmetrical .trapezoid. Thus after the shoe'is slippedbetween the wingportions, the sole i brought to -;proper relation withthe heel of the shoe and the wings inwardly compressed, the slide may bepushed forward along flanges Hi to respectively:

engage them with hooks i2 and thereby hold the is additionally efiectiveto gradually permanently snug in the sides of the shoe adjacent the heeland thereby decrease any tendency to slip which: the shoe may haveoriginally possessed, so that. frequently an improved fit is ultimatelyobtained: especially in the case of persons Whose heels areabnormallyslender. Moreover because of its; simple character, the invention can besold at a. relatively low price so that anjindividual own-- ing severalpairs of shoes can readily purchase: a sufficient number to constantlykeep all of them: in condition. y

While we have herein illustrated and described certain forms of ourinvention with considerable particularity we do. not thereby desire orintend. to restrict or confine ourselves specifically there-- to as ifdesired changes and modifications may be made in their detailso-fdesign, construction and arrangement without departing from the:spirit and scope of the invention as defined in:

the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim and desire to protect byLetters Patent of the United States: v Y

1. A device of the class described formed of resilient material andcomprising a sole portion adapted to register with and span the sole ofa. shoe proximate the front face of its heel, wings rising from the endsof the sole portion having upwardly diverging and rearwardly curvingedges whereby the extremities of the wings are 'wider than and locatedrearwardly of the rear edge of the sole portion, and means operable tohold said extremities in predetermined spaced relation.

2. Adevice of the class described formed of resilient material andcomprising a sole portion adapted to register with and span the, sole ofa I shoe proximate the front face of its heel, wings rising from theends of the sole portion having upwardly diverging and rearwardlycurving edges whereby the extremities of the wings are wider than andlocated rearwardly of the rear edge of the sole portion, and meansoperable tohold said extremities in predetermined spaced relation withtheir front edges laterally separated fora greater 'in spaced relationagainst the natural, outward bias of the Wings. 7

4. ,A device of the class described formed of resilient material andcomprising a substantially rectangular sole portion adapted-to engageand span the sole of a shoe proximatethe front face of its heel, a wingrising from eachend of the sole having its lower portionoutwardlydirected, its

24/ intermediate portion inwardly directed and its upper portionsubstantially normal to the sole, and means operable to hold said upperportions in spaced relation against the natural outward bias of thewings, including a flange on the extremity of one wing and a rearwardlytapering portion on the extremity of the other wing comprising a hook atits free edge adapted to receive the flange. I

5. A unitary device of the class described formed of resilient sheetmaterial and comprising a substantially rectangular sole portion adaptedto engage and span the sole of a shoe in proximity to the front face ofits heel, a wing rising from each end of the sole portion having anoutwardly inclined portion proximate thereto, an inwardly inclinedintermediate portion thereabove and a terminal portion substantiallynormal to the sole portion, the front and rear edges of the intermediateportion diverging upwardly and rearwardly whereby the free extremitiesof the wings are rearwardly offset -from and of greater width than saidsole portion, and means operable to hold said extremities inpredetermined laterally spaced rearwardly inclined relation againsttheir inherent outward bias comprising a trapezoidal portion on one wingextending inwardly substantially parallel to said sole porinclinedportion proximate thereto, an inwardly inclined intermediate portionthereabove and a terminal portion substantially normal to the soleportion, the front and rear edges of the intermediate portion divergingupwardly and rearwardly whereby the free extremities of the wings are'rearwardly offset from and of greater width than said sole portion,each wing having an outwardly directed flange at its free extremity, anda slide generally trapezoidal in planary outline comprising inturnedhooks at its lateral edges adapted to receive said flanges when theslide is moved thereover to thereby hold the terminal portions of thewings in oppositely rearwardly inclined laterally spaced relation.

GEORGE H. DE LONG. BLAIR DREISBACH.

